Conch Punch – Twice the Fun

By lifeispain · June 06, 2017

So, I’ve had mu conches punched twice. When I was researching my initial punch and my second I found almost no information on re-punching. That’s right – RE-PUNCHED.

I have always been interested in unusual piercings and extreme modification. I have the very best artist (who shall remain anonymous). His skill and talent are second to none. Initially, I got the idea when getting my tongue split. I set up a time with my guy to take care of my tongue (another story for another time). The procedure takes sometime so we got it on the calendar for May 2016. Once I arrived I, laid down on the table and the process began. Now, you can’t see a whole lot while someone is slicing and stitching your tongue. However, I could see his ears. Like most artists he has a lot of mods. One I noticed were his conches, which were punched at ½ inch. I knew about dermal punches and large gauge piercings, but hadn’t ever really considered one. The closest I’d ever gotten was a 6 gauge PA piercing. I wasn’t able to talk with him until about a week after the procedure. The tongue stitches precluded deep conversation. After 10 days I took out my stitches and was able to talk normally. I immediately went to the shop. The main purpose of the visit was to have him look over my tongue, but I also wanted to discuss my conches. I had spent a great deal of time reading about them and watching videos online. I felt that I had a good idea of what they were about. I spent at least 30 minutes interrogating him about the process, healing, and his experience doing a conch punch. After I was satisfied, we again put a date on the calendar. He was ready to do it then, but I was still in some pain from my tongue, so we were to meet in a week.

One week later I arrived at the shop and I was quite nervous. I have had a number of piercings and tattoos, in addition to a tongue split, but had never been this nervous. Just like before, he discussed the healing and aftercare procedures. We discussed size and jewelry. We settled on 2 gauge and a pair of beautiful stone single flare plugs. And just like before I laid on the table and turned to one side. While he was getting ready I remembered one of the videos I had seen. Evidently, people eat the removed tissue as some sort of ritual. At that point I told him that I would NOT be eating the removed part of my ear – what he called “the cookie.” Everything was ready and he marked my ears. In typical fashion he instructed me to take a big breath in and then exhale. Spoiler: when you exhale the needle (or whatever) goes in. As I expected there was a large crunching noise. However, there was very little pain. I definitely felt the punch move through my skin and I felt the warm blood in my ear, but the pain was nominal. After my second ear was punched and the jewelry inserted, I sat up and held a conversation with him while things settled.

After sitting for a bit, I told my artist that I felt fine and was ready to go. At this point it is worth mentioning that I drove myself and no one came with me. This is important because the trip home (about a 10 minute drive) was excruciating. My ears began to throb and the pain was so bad that my jaw and neck tensed up and also began to hurt. Still, the next day I woke up sore, but I didn’t have any real pain. Now, I’m a bit obsessive and can become focused on little details very easily. This is not a good trait for people getting piercings. Lymph and dried blood can drive me crazy and I typically clean a lot – too much. This trait is especially bad with a very large gauge hole. There is lymph and dried blood and it is in a rather tight spot. I followed the directions of my artist for cleaning solution and technique, but I ignored the 2-3 times per day and opted for 5-6 times. As you might expect, the piercing became very irritated. Sleeping became difficult and the piercing hurt all the time.

Rather than push through the pain, I opted to remove it. After all, the internet told me that the cartilage couldn’t grow back. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! The cartilage did grow back. Even worse, I developed bumps that could easily be mistaken for hypertrophic scars.

Fast forward one year. Almost immediately I regretted pulling the plugs out. I massaged them with Vitamin E oil to help, but the bumps developed regardless. Early in 2017, I began to seriously consider getting them punched again. In May of that year, I decided to get them punched – again. Just like before I set up a time to meet with my artist. Once I arrived, he took a great deal of time measuring the scars and looking at placement. I went in expecting for them to be punched at 2 gauge again. However, one of the bumps was about 1 mm larger than a 2 gauge. I was left with two options: 1) have it punched at 2 gauge and live with a small bump around the piercing or 2) have them punched at 0 gauge. I went with 0 gauge. The procedure was identical to the first time I had them punched. Breath, punch, blood, jewelry, repeat. And just like the first time, the pain was minimal. However, I brought my wife with me this time. She was responsible for driving me home. And as expected, the endorphins wore off and the pain set in on the way home. This time, I decided to use the LITHA approach. I rinse it a couple times per day and dry it with a Q-Tip but leave it alone otherwise. It was sore the next day, and the LITHA method has made healing a breeze thus far.

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